The Italian city of Venice was one of the largest cities in medieval and Renaissance era Europe. It was the center of the Republic of Venice, a maritime empire in the Mediterranean, and had one of Europe's largest ports for exotic goods (particularly from Asia), or luxury goods such as glassware. Impact of plague While its population was relatively small by modern standards, it is believed that Venice was among the five most populous cities in Western Europe in the given years between 1050 and 1650. The city's population did fluctuate over time due to devastating pandemics, and it is believed that Venice was one of the main points of entry for the Black Death in Europe. Venice was one of the hardest-hit cities during the Black Death; estimates fluctuate greatly across sources, but it is believed that the city lost around 40 percent of its population during the initial outbreak in the 1340s. Decline Furthermore, Venice lost roughly a third of its population during further plague pandemics (both introduced via war) in the 1570s and 1630s. Because of this, the population was kept fairly consistent across the given years between 1600 and 1800. The 18th century also saw the decline of the Venetian Empire, as other states gained power and influence in the Mediterranean. Venice also lost its importance as the entry point of exotic goods into Europe, as other European powers had already established their own maritime empires and trade routes across the globe. Eventually, the crumbling Venetian Empire fell to Napoleon in 1796, and its overseas territories were gradually taken by or split among various other powers. While the empire fell, the city itself continued to be a center for art and culture in Europe, and it has maintained this status until today. In 2021, Venice had a population of more than 250,000 people.

This is a replication package for "the Persistence of the Harvest in Medieval England."Notes for replicating results from “The Persistence of the Harvest in Medieval England.”The two data files contain yields per acre and per seed, the rest of the control variables are the same for both files. Format is STATA data file. File 1: yieldsperacre.dta File 2: yieldperseed.dtaFile 1 is used to produce Panel A for most tables (i.e., those tables having two panels), file 2 produces Panel B for most tables. List of variables in data files: yldw: wheat yields (per seed or acre) with date stubyldo: oat yields (per seed or acre) with date stubyldb: barley yields (per seed or acre) with date stubsow: typical sow rates for wheat by periodsowo: typical sow rates for oats by periodsow: typical sow rates for barley by periodani: typical # of draft animals by manor by periodacres: mean acres sown by period by manorsheep: typical # of sheep by manor by periodprecip: measured precipitation by yearpreciptr: 30 year moving average of precipitationtemp: measured temperature by yeartempr: 30 year moving average of temperaturedpop: change in manor’s population density over periodpop: population level in perioddis: distance of manor to Londoncroptype: code for crop mix, from Campbellhustype: code for husbandry, from Campbellfarmtype: code for farming strategy, from Campbellsoiltype: code for soil make up, geology of manor, from CampbellThe provided STATA *.do files are listed by the relevant table or figure in the text that they produce. Each do-file uses either data file 1 or data file 2 depending on which panel of the relevant table is produced. To use the do file replace wd with your relevant data and working directory. All of the do files contain redundant code, they can be used for “stand alone” analysis in addition to producing the relevant table/figure.

This dataset contains the results of the PhD research into the socioeconomic developments in medieval Holland and Zeeland. These many alterations as a result of urbanisation and commercialisation, impacted on the lifestyle of the residents. Not only did the alteration in living conditions affect disease prevalence, diet and activity patterns were most likely also subjected to change as a result of the developments. Although general trends are noted in historical sources, the impact on the physical body of the villagers and townsmen is difficult to study on the basis of written sources alone. Therefore, to gain greater insights into the consequences of the socioeconomic developments in Medieval Holland and Zeeland, three skeletal assemblages (362 individuals) are compared: early rural Blokhuizen (AD1000-1196), late rural Klaaskinderkerke (AD1200-1573), and urban Alkmaar (AD1448-1572). Specifically, differences in disease prevalence, activity markers, and variation in levels of dental disease and nutritional stress between the collections are studied. Results indicate that infectious disease levels increased for the urban individuals, most likely as a result of higher population densities and poorer hygiene. The higher prevalence of dental caries in the urban individuals suggests an increase in the ingestion of carbohydrate rich food products. The skeletal data on activity indicates that the urban residents were less mobile than their rural counterparts, but were experiencing similar degrees of mechanical loading on their joints, although minor differences in limb use might indicate differential activities. Interestingly, the absence of differences between the three skeletal collections in nutritional deficiencies and other non-specific stress markers suggest that living in the urban centre is not the health hazard it is commonly assumed to be.

Characteristics of medieval individuals according to their age at death, sex, BMD values, T-score values, LCT -13910 genotypes and number of sequence reads for C and T alleles.

Estimated mean stature (cm), SD and range for each sex and SES group.

Estimated effect with females as reference level.

Results of the two sample t-tests for stature and BMD comparisons.